The
facial recognition pilot program
launched last week by US Customs and Border Protection, which civil
liberties advocates say could lead to new potentially privacy-invading
programs, is just the first of three biometric experiments that the feds
are getting ready to launch.
The three experiments involve new
controversial technologies like iris and face scanner kiosks, which CBP
plans to deploy at the Mexican border, and facial recognition software,
according to a leaked document obtained by Motherboard.
All three pilots are part of a broader
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program to modernize screenings at
American entry and exit ports, including at the highly politicized
Mexican border, with the aid of new biometric technologies. The program
is known as
Apex Air Entry and Exit Re-Engineering (AEER) Project, according to the leaked slides.
These pilot programs have the goal of
“identifying and implementing” biometric technologies that can be used
at American borders to improve the immigration system as well as US
national security, according to the slides.
“The public should take notice. These programs may be coming to a theater near you.”
The facial recognition pilot is up and
running at Washington Dulles International airport, while the other two
programs appear to have not been deployed yet. Unlike the facial
recognition one, the other two appear to only target foreigners.
The CBP did not respond to questions
regarding these programs. The slides were leaked to Motherboard by Arjun
Sethi, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) legislative counsel,
who attended a presentation held on March 10 at the CBP headquarters.
The
second pilot is called Biometric Exit (BE) Mobile Experiment and has the
goal of helping CBP “confirm with certainty that a foreigner traveler
has departed the United States.”
As part of this experiment, the slides
say that the CBP officers at the Atlanta Hartsfield International
airport will use a “handheld device” to record the exit of a foreign
national from the US and create a match with the person’s entry records,
in order to figure out whether a foreigner has stayed in the US more
than he or she was allowed to.
It’s unclear what the device actually
does, but according to another person who attended the presentation at
the CBP, the device is probably a fingerprint reader.
The third pilot is called Pedestrian
Biometric Experiment and it will be deployed at the Otay Mesa border
between the United States and Mexico, according to the slides.
This
experiment has the goal of testing “the viability of facial and iris
image capture” in a land border such as the one in Otay Mesa, and create
“an additional layer of security” at the US southern border to “combat
national security and public safety threats.”
The CBP will install devices
capable of scanning a traveler’s face and iris, replacing existing entry
kiosks, the agency explains in the slides. Other gizmos to be deployed
include RFID document readers, iris biometric scanners, and facial
biometric cameras, according to a sketch of the border station included
in the slides.
While both these two programs, as well as
the facial recognition one, are just experiments at the moment, privacy
advocates warn that there’s a risk of mission creep, and that
technologies like those used for these experiments could soon be
deployed more widely. Moreover, given the ever-increasing political
pressure to secure the border with Mexico, the third program has good
chances to be fully implemented.
“The public should take notice,” Sethi, of the ACLU, told Motherboard. “These programs may be coming to a theater near you.”
Source:
Motherboard and
Biometric Entry and ExitCBP Biometric Entry and Exit Program
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